The Kingdom of Danzo Shimura
by LiveForeverOrDieTrying
Summary: The Nidaime was pragmatic. He knew Konoha had to be militarily effective to survive. That's why he created ROOT. What if his pragmatism lead him to appoint Danzō as Sandaime Hokage rather than Hiruzen? AU. M for eventual content
1. Genesis

**A/N: I'm just going to go ahead and start something new. It's been plaguing my thoughts and now I'm motivated to write something. Sorry to those waiting for an update from my other story. This is my take on how Konoha logically should have been run, considering it** _ **is**_ **primarily a military establishment.**

 **This will be an AU story. I probably won't change much, but I'll change certain things that I think are reasonable and logical. God, I sound like an Aburame, don't I?**

 **I intend to make pretty much everyone significantly more badass than they were in canon. That does mean everyone though, including the bad guys. If you have ideas or recommendations for certain characters, go ahead and leave with them with me. Actually, if you have any ideas at all for the story, go ahead and suggest them; my plans for the story so far consists of exactly fifty words written in a tiny notebook, so there's a lot of room for other ideas and stuff that can be included.**

 **Go ahead and read the first paragraph of my profile for info about updates.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Danzō held the crying blond newborn in his arms. Indeed, it was to be expected that after such a traumatic event, the boy would be upset. It was truly miraculous that he had survived, but Danzō supposed he could attribute that to the blond man lying before him.

Danzō looked down at his successor's cooling corpse, a twinge of something akin to sadness sparking in his gut. Namikaze had been a fine ROOT shinobi, and an even better Hokage. It was truly a shame, seeing such a valuable asset to the village die without being able to stop it. Danzō never could stamp out his noble streak though, and now he and his wife, the only Jinchūriki in the village, were dead and the village was safe from the Kyūbi.

Saved though it was, the village did not escape unscathed. In the brief time the Kyūbi had to be held back to protect the civilians, an estimated 35% of the village's active shinobi forces were killed. Losing one third of your military power in the blink of an eye was a disaster, especially for the most powerful of the hidden villages.

All was not lost, though. Including himself, the village still had seven S-ranked shinobi at its disposal, though several of those were considerably older than when they first earned that rank, diluting their efficacy. A couple of the up-and-coming Jōnin had been evaluated with a potential for S-rank as well, which Danzō would work to develop as quickly as possible to bolster the village's strength. Additionally, the small blond Jinchūriki in Danzō's arms, child of two of the village's strongest ninja, would almost certainly grow to become a formidable shinobi with proper guidance; however, the boy wouldn't be of much strategic value for at least a few years yet.

Seven S-ranked shinobi and 4,000 standard active duty shinobi were not an inconsiderable force. If any two of the three major hostile hidden villages attacked, for example Iwa and Kumo, they would only be able to reasonably muster an invasion force consisting of two Kage, four Jinchūriki, and at most 3,000 standard active duty shinobi. Such an invasion would create massive losses on both sides, a result that Danzō was counting on; you didn't invade an enemy village if it put your own village at risk.

However, if all three hostile major villages joined forces, those being Iwa, Kumo and Kiri, Konoha would be faced with three Kage, six Jinchūriki, and around 4,000 active duty shinobi. Konoha would be wiped off the map in such an invasion.

It would take time and luck for cooperation between three of the big five, though, and hopefully that would be enough time for Danzō to implement Project Recovery and bring the village back to full power. If not…

Danzō clamped down on his emotions and turned away from the remains of two of the best shinobi he'd even seen, signalling to his ROOT guards to collect Namikaze's and Uzumaki's remains. He had to go find his head researcher to implement his plan immediately.

…

Orochimaru sat in his lab, sipping sake and absently looking through some notes left by his head fūinjutsu researcher. While his specialty was primarily the study of biology and chakra, he was reasonably well versed in fūinjutsu allowing him to at least review his subordinate's work, even if he encountered some difficulty inventing formulas himself.

However, his focus wasn't on the contents of the paper, but on the author. The surveillance seal installed on his favorite researcher had been disabled. Other than voluntary deactivation, of which Orochimaru knew his researcher was capable but unwilling, the only time this seal would cease functioning was when his researcher died.

The snake sannin stared blankly at the neat handwriting of the formula before him, considering the loss of one of his most valuable research assets. He wasn't really upset by the loss of his subordinate as a person; his ROOT training blunted his emotions enough that such strong feelings were a thing of the past. He was disappointed, however, by the loss of potential future research in the subject area. He would have to train someone else from the fūinjutsu division to take the position, someone who would almost certainly fail to meet their predecessor's standard of work. At least he had competent replacements available, however; had they failed to come to Uzushiogakure's aid, fūinjutsu specialists would likely be significantly rarer, and of significantly lower quality. Even if they turn out to be half as innovative and intelligent as Kushina, having an Uzumaki running his fūinjutsu division was still significantly better than having some novice in charge. Regardless, he could worry about that another time; for now, he had company.

"I suppose you already know that Kushina is dead."

Danzō watched as the sannin stood from his stool and turned to face him. The pale man nodded silently, standing at attention before his Hokage.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I'll find a suitable replacement and train them to take her place over the next month. I will ensure that output returns to standard levels within three months."

Danzō nodded. This was Orochimaru's area of expertise, and he liked to run a tight ship, so three months was likely the best that could be done.

"You should be relieved to know that the Kyūbi is no longer a threat. Namikaze expended his life sealing the beast into his child."

Orochimaru nodded, still expressionless.

"I have another assignment for you. I have decided to activate Project Recovery immediately in response to the Kyūbi attack. I expect a proposal on my desk within the week, to be enacted within two. Project Recovery is hereby classified, to be kept secure and secret from all personnel with clearance below S rank until the subjects reach maturity. You are authorized to use any civilian resources of your choice to facilitate Project Recovery, so long as you take precautions to maintain confidentiality. You are not authorized to modify any of the subjects beyond the parameters of Project Recovery unless approved by myself or, in the event of my death, my successor. If you complete this mission to my satisfaction, I will reward you with expanded funding and a more lenient approval process for some of your… questionable proposals. Understood?"

Orochimaru nodded again. He had been interested in trying out Project Recovery, if only to see if he could use it to prepare a custom made vessel for him to use. Now, though, if Danzō's promise was to be believed, Orochimaru would not need to hide his experimentation in immortality and other such pursuits. It seemed that, though Danzō liked to pretend he kept Orochimaru on a short leash, he understood that letting the snake work at his own leisure was of maximal benefit to Konoha. Of course, Orochimaru looked out for his own interests first and foremost, however there was no reason why his village could not enjoy the fruits of his research alongside him if they so chose.

Without another word, Danzō vacated the sannin's lab using his sensei's technique, the Hiraishin. The Nidaime had truly been a genius when it came to jutsu creation, and the Hiraishin was one of his crowning achievements. Part of the reason Danzō chose Namikaze as his successor was out of respect for the man's command of his late sensei's technique. Though Danzō couldn't use the technique nearly as well as the Nidaime or Yondaime, he was capable of using it, as were most of the high ranking shinobi of the village. After all, even disregarding its combat capabilities, being able to teleport oneself out of danger instantaneously was an invaluable ability. Who knows when you'll be trapped behind a barrier of some sort, forced to fight the resurrected and nearly indestructible corpses of two deceased Hokage and unable to do anything except die fighting or use space-time ninjutsu to escape.

Orochimaru watched his leader leave in a bright flash, before moving to one of the cabinets lining the walls of his lab. Opening one, he withdrew an unmarked manila folder filled with a miscellany of documents. From the folder he withdrew one concise sheet, marked with two columns of names and some adjacent handwritten notes about each potential subject. He smirked, perusing the list for combinations that would hopefully demonstrate the most interesting results.

Project Recovery was an experimental eugenics program designed to guarantee the production of incredibly powerful shinobi. As part of a standard "physical" required to become a shinobi, sperm or egg samples are collected from all ninja of the village, ostensibly to be tested for fertility. Many don't question the requirement, having no experience in the medical field to give them cause to dissent. Those who do object are drugged to induce compliance, before having their memory wiped. The samples are preserved and stored. If the shinobi is a kekkei genkai user, or if they prove themselves to be especially skilled or intelligent, their samples are moved to a high security vault and listed in a database to be used in Project Recovery.

The primary reason that the Project had been kept inactive was because of the likelihood of conflict over the procurement and use of the samples used. However, now that the village needed manpower to replace the ninja lost in the attack, the Hokage decided that there was sufficient justification to activate the program.

Now that the Project was active, the valuable samples held in the secure vault would be fertilized and incubated in a surrogate. With luck, the Project would yield subjects that were predisposed to success in shinobi pursuits.

Orochimaru's list held the various combinations that he thought would produce effective results. His finger slid down the list before stopping on one of the entries. Uchiha and Hyūga. He had theorized that such a combination would produce a hybrid dōjutsu of some sort, perhaps capable of some abilities available to each eye. The chakra theory behind each eye's functionality was incredibly complex, so much so that Orochimaru had only the faintest idea how the kekkei genkai might interact. At any rate, the combination promised to be an interesting experiment in cross-breeding. Orochimaru marked the entry, before continuing down the list.

Orochimaru paused again on the next entry. Hyūga and Nara. Shikaku Nara was likely the smartest man alive. His strategies had saved countless lives, and his mission completion record was nearly perfect. Only misinformation was capable of defeating him, and even then the man would likely be able to escape and salvage the mission later. A ninja with Nara-level intelligence and the universal sight of a Hyūga to gather information would be nearly unbeatable. The snake put down another checkmark.

His finger hit another interesting entry. Senju and Uzumaki. Their store of Senju zygotes came courtesy of Tsunade, one of the reasons for the protocol to ensure compliance. Extracting those samples had been… problematic. At any rate, both clans were known for their heartiness and their longevity, indicating that a combination of the two would be even moreso. The Uzumaki genetics or chakra components might even activate the dormant genes necessary to produce the Mokuton bloodline. Additionally, Tsunade's medical prowess would likely be passed on to any offspring, as would the traditional Uzumaki fūinjutsu abilities. Orochimaru theorized that fūinjutsu could be a considerable boon to medics if implemented correctly. However, due to the extreme difficulty of both subjects, Konoha had yet to have a dual specialist that would be necessary to design these fūin. Someone predisposed to excel at both subjects, however… Orochimaru marked the entry.

Farther down the list, Orochimaru landed on an entry that made him crack a small smirk. Jiraiya and an Inuzuka sample. As though Jiraiya's progeny would need even _more_ carnal motivation. The potential for a heavy combat specialist was there, considering Jiraiya's large chakra reserves and jutsu talent and the Inuzuka's powerful clan techniques, but Orochimaru decided that such a combination would be more amusing than anything else. He checked off the entry in the name of science.

Down the list he went, periodically checking off entries that appeared promising.

Namikaze and Hyūga, to combine the natural Namikaze speed with the Hyūga's speed based taijutsu style.

Aburame and Uzumaki, to experiment with a high-capacity Aburame capable of managing an abnormally large number of hives.

Uchiha and Senju, to see if it was possible to get the two of the most powerful bloodlines in existence to hybridize.

Orochimaru's own sample and Uzumaki, to see if his intelligence and the Uzumaki fūinjutsu ability could produce a subject worthy of heading the fūinjutsu division.

Nara and Uzumaki, for a similar reason.

Yamanaka and Senju, to see if the Yamanaka bloodline and Tsunade's medical prowess would provide medical insight into the relationship between the mind and the body, or if the Yamanaka bloodline might be modified by the Senju bloodline to produce a hybrid bloodline.

Namikaze and Uchiha, to amplify the two bloodlines' natural speed and intelligence.

Nara and Uchiha, to create a tactical genius capable of cataloguing hundreds of jutsu to strategically utilize in combat.

Akimichi and Uzumaki, to reinforce the already impressive Akimichi strength, chakra and robust constitution with Uzumaki chakra and physical vigor.

Namikaze and Akimichi, to combine the Namikaze speed with the Akimichi strength.

Orochimaru counted the entries he'd selected. Fourteen. If he included the Namikaze-Uzumaki brat that now contained the Kyūbi, there would be exactly enough highly promising children around the same age to form five full teams without any subpar shinobi polluting the team dynamics. Perfect. Orochimaru sat down at his personal research computer and began preparing his report for Danzō.

…

Danzō was sitting at his desk in the Hokage Tower, looking down at the blond-haired baby sleeping peacefully in his arms and contemplating whether the child should be raised in ROOT or not. Having years of experience with ROOT training by that point, Danzō knew that raising children in ROOT, while typically producing high quality and utterly loyal shinobi, tended to stunt emotional growth and cause psychological damage. Since the child was already predisposed to be a skilled ninja, both genetically and because of the Kyūbi, Danzō had no concern over his potential skills.

However, the issue of loyalty was still to be considered. It would be disastrous if the boy went missing-nin at some point, taking with him the only Bijū at Konoha's disposal. Contrarily, it would be to the village's detriment if Naruto became the an influential of the village and didn't have the emotional capacity necessary to give a good impression to potential clients. Truly, the issue was quite vexing.

Quite suddenly, a bright flash appeared in the center of the office. As the light cleared, the Great Toad Sage Jiraiya stepped to the Hokage's desk, bowing to Danzō before gently picking up his godson. Danzō frowned slightly in annoyance; he'd forgotten that Jiraiya might pose a threat to his plans for Naruto. The white-haired orphan was one of the few high ranking ninja that had spent no time in ROOT, having expressed a nearly violent resistance to entering the organization.

The man would be considerably displeased with the prospect of his godson being raised by ROOT, possibly even driving him to take the Jinchūriki and become a missing nin. The risk of Jiraiya leaving if Danzō gave Naruto to ROOT was considerably higher than the risk of Naruto spontaneously leaving at some point in the future, leaving Danzō with an easy decision as to the fate of the small Namikaze.

"Hello, Jiraiya. My condolences regarding the death of your student."

Jiraiya looked down at the newborn in his arms, a tear prickling at the corner of his eye. He should have been there, available to provide the sacrifice necessary to seal away the Kyūbi. He had missed the boy's birth because of a rumor of hostile movements in Iwa that he had chosen to investigate. By the time word reached him of what happened, it was too late. Now his godson was an orphan in need of a guardian.

"I suppose you wish to be young Naruto's caretaker, considering your relationship with his parents."

Jiraiya nodded. He felt he owed it to his godson to be there for him now, in order to make up for not being there for his parents when they needed him.

"I will allow this, on the condition that Naruto remains in Konoha when you travel to maintain your spy network. With the Hiraishin at your disposal, you should be capable of returning to Konoha regularly to care for the child as well as maintain your information network. If you believe yourself incapable of this, I will find another caretaker to be the boy's guardian."

Jiraiya smiled slightly and bowed to the elderly Hokage. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Danzō nodded, dismissing the sannin. Jiraiya flashed away, likely to his home in Konoha, taking the child with him. While this would modify the old war hawk's plans for the Jinchūriki, the end result would likely still be to Konoha's benefit. After all, considering the boy's heritage, he may very well perform some heroic feat and gain international acclaim; doing so without capacity for empathy was a surefire way give the Leaf a bad reputation, which would in turn reduce client retention. In fact, the boy should be specifically conditioned to act in a socially acceptable manner, so as to enhance the positive image of the village.

However, having the child associate with random children from throughout the village may result in unwanted behaviors or habits being spread from children of unsavory individuals, compromising the entire affair. What he needed was a controlled group of children with which Naruto could socialize under the control of his shinobi, so as to limit the number of factors that could be detrimental to his plan.

Luckily, Danzō would have such a group available very soon, so long as nothing happened to Project Recovery. All of the Project Recovery subjects were of similar superior lineage to Naruto, and therefore should receive the same conditioning. With the group socialized together, they would be both cohesive enough to eventually cooperate in running the village and socially effective enough in general to be the face of the village. Plus, if they worked together, assuming they eventually achieve the level of skill Danzō expected they would and that most survived until adulthood, the group would be capable of defeating nearly any force that could be mustered by the enemy villages, cementing Konoha's place as the strongest village in the Elemental Nations.

He was getting ahead of himself, however. He still had a half-destroyed village to help convalesce. Instead of daydreaming about his village's superiority, he should be out there helping.

Danzō stood, flashing to ANBU headquarters to get an update on the state of his village.

 **A/N: Mostly introductory stuff, not much by way of action or whatever else, but it sets the stage for the rest of the fic.**

 **I couldn't really work in what I wanted to about Uzushio, so I'll just tell you here to clarify it, as well as provide some rationale so it isn't just 'because I said so and it's my fic'. Uzushio was destroyed in the Second Shinobi World War, but Danzō had some ROOT agents established there as Konoha liaisons. These agents 'helped' some of the ninja from Uzu escape death (by kidnapping them and modifying their memory), bringing them back to Konoha to join the ranks of Danzō's ninja.**

 **Also, to prevent confusion, the seven S-ranked ninja I mentioned are Danzō, Hiruzen, the three Sannin, the ANBU Commander and the Jōnin Commander.**

 **A little challenge: Of the fourteen subjects of Project Recovery, eleven will eventually correspond to members of the Konoha Twelve and three will be OCs. If you can guess the identities of any ten of them correctly, either identifying who they represent or if they're OCs, I'll let you decide what kind of personality one of the OCs will have. You can make your guesses either in a review or a PM, I don't care which.**

 **If you would kindly spread the Christmas spirit and leave a favorite, follow, review or any combination thereof as a nice Christmas gift, I would appreciate it. If you decide to warm me up with a nice flame in this cold weather, even better. Please disregard that I am not Christian and have no business asking for a Christmas present.**


	2. Growth

**A/N: Well, nobody's wagered any guesses so far except one of my IRL friends, but I'm not going to just sit back and do nothing while my story stagnates. I won't come right out and identify people just yet (and I apologize for the naming system they get in this chapter; it is rather awkward, but it's the best I could do), so you still have a chance to come up with guesses about characters corresponding to subjects.**

 **I'm changing it up a bit. I was reminded by a friend that I forgot to include Sai, so instead of 11 unoriginal characters and 3 OCs, it's going to be 12 unoriginal characters and 2 OCs. Luckily, one of the OCs I'd created fit with Sai's personality and abilities pretty well, so I didn't have to change my previous chapter.**

 **The canon squads have been mixed up some. One has been obliterated, two have had a member replaced, and one stayed intact. I have reasons for the configurations… probably.**

 **Also, I'm doing technique names in English because I'm going to invent some new ones that I'm gonna name and I don't want to use crappy Google Translate Japanese for them.**

 **Disclaimer Error 404: Ownership of Naruto not found**

"This is Alpha One, I'm in position. Respond, Team Alpha."

"This is Alpha Two, I'm in position."

"This is Naruto, why are we bothering with code names? Also, why are you bothering asking if we're in position, you can _see_ we're in position with your damn Byakugan."

"...Alpha Three, we use codes to practice _not_ using actual names on missions, and I'm asking if you're in position in case someone's replaced you with a disguised enemy. Unless you would rather I assume you are an impostor and close all of your tenketsu."

"Ok, ok, I'll behave. This is Alpha Three, I'm in position."

The three ninja sat in trees a short ways from a small camp that housed their target. The goal of the simulated operation was to retrieve a mission-critical package and leave the battleground with it safely. The opposing team, Team Charlie, currently had possession of the objective and was attempting to escape with it. Team Beta was currently engaged in a separate training exercise with Team Delta elsewhere. The other three of their group of prodigies were away on a mission, helping some poor genin team out of a C-turned-Clusterfuck rank mission.

The teams that were training that day had been rearranged somewhat to encourage cross-team cooperation, with one member from each triplet being moved to another team for the exercise.

"Hey, Alpha One, what the hell are we sitting around here for? They probably know we're here since they have a Byakugan _and_ kikaichū to watch out for us, and it's not like we're going for stealth here. Let's get a move on!"

The radio was silent for a moment, before Alpha One's voice returned. "I suppose Alpha Three has a point. We'll hit them now. Unfortunately, they have seals up on their tents that block the Byakugan, so I can't tell where they are or who has the package. There are a number of traps around the perimeter, however. Alpha Three, we're waiting on you."

Naruto leapt down from his tree, creating a swarming mass of clones that charged the perimeter of the camp. When they reached the boundary, the camp suddenly erupted in chaos. Explosions gouged the ground, kunai flew in nearly every direction, various stored elemental attacks obliterated the trees closest to the camp, and sealing arrays appeared on a number of trees and patches of ground. The clones continued to charge towards certain death, intending to activate every trap and ensure safe passage for Alpha Team.

After half a minute of pandemonium, during which time Naruto had to generate more clones twice, the dopplegangers finally broke through the trap perimeter and entered the camp proper. Over a hundred of his identical copies plowed their way into the camp, eviscerating their opponents' tents with kunai. On the other side of the camp, Alpha One tensed on his tree, preparing to warp down to his teammate and engage any enemies that might be there.

Suddenly, a large masked boy tore his way out of a tent, clotheslining two Naruto clones and dispelling them. One stomp on the ground caused a line of stone spikes to pop out of the ground, skewering several further clones and causing the rest to scatter. Several clones performed an identical series of handsigns, launching simultaneous wind attacks at their adversary. The large boy responded with a single handsign, producing a wall of stone around himself that absorbed the blades of wind. He was forced to jump out of his protective shell, however, as three swirling blue spheres broke through the wall all around him, threatening to tear him apart.

As he rose into the air, a brace of electrified kunai flew towards him from a distant tree, courtesy of Alpha Two. Unable to parry them without being electrocuted and unable to dodge them due to his altitude, the boy ran through several more handseals, disappearing in a puff of smoke as he switched places with one of the clones of his opponent.

Several blond-haired clones began another sequence of handsigns, intending to trap their foe in an unavoidable crossfire before he had time to react with another jutsu. Before they could finish, however, one of the clones smirked and spoke, briefly distracting the others.

"You're all within my field of divination. Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"

The ninja disguised as a Naruto clone vanished, before smoke filled the camp. In the confusion, the larger ninja escaped into the cover of the forest to hide from the opposing team and regroup. The sound of strikes landing accompanied by popping clones emanated from the smoke, before one strike caused a grunt of pain rather than a dispelled clone.

"Found you."

The strikes came more quickly now, the attacker no longer having to traverse any distance to her target. With one final strike, a blond body flew from the smokescreen, sailing to the treeline across the camp.

A flash of yellow engulfed Naruto, and he found himself being let down gently by his teammate Alpha One, who had warped to the Hiraishin mark on the back of his uniform. After quickly unsealing the boy's blocked tenketsu, Alpha One tossed him back to Alpha Two, who caught him with some chakra strings and compelled him to stay back from the fight in front of him to watch for other opponents.

Meanwhile, the handful of Naruto clones that had survived the onslaught charged at their new adversary, coming at her with simultaneous high punches and low kicks from several angles. She bent out of the way of the attacks, returning with Jūken strikes to dispel the nuisances.

While she was preoccupied, Alpha One threw a brace of tri-pronged kunai at his half-sister, who in turn activated Chakra Scalpels and finished off her blond opponents. As the kunai came into range, she sliced along their handles, destroying the seal formulas on them. One made it past her before she could neutralize it, however, allowing Alpha One to engage one of his favorite techniques.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Lightning Strikes!"

A flash of light corresponded with a strike landing on his enemy, but when she turned to retaliate he was no longer there, having flashed back to a seal he'd left at his former position, near the edge of the camp. She cut the last kunai's seal formula, but another flash of light left her with another sealed tenketsu. He had applied a sealing formula to her when he'd struck her the first time, leaving her entirely unable to defend herself from his technique.

More flashes of light illuminated the camp, each one corresponding with a strike from Alpha One. As the technique progressed, the flashes came with greater frequency and the strikes came with greater force. His opponent's efforts to avoid or block the strikes failed due to the speed of his strikes and his ability to teleport away from counterattacks.

Alpha One teleported away once again, having delivered thirty two strikes, before stopping dead. He tried to move or teleport away, but his muscles and chakra refused to respond to his commands. He realized why as his adversary straightened up, forcing him to involuntarily mimic the movement and revealing the half-rat handsign that into which she'd twisted her right hand.

"Shadow Chakra Possession successful. You almost had me there, too."

Her technique, an enhanced version of the Shadow Possesion Jutsu, caused her shadow to climb onto her opponent and invade their tenketsu, forcing her target's chakra system to mimic her own. This prevented them from performing jutsu while under her control, as well as allowing her to perform jutsu for her own use while draining her target.

She unsealed the tenketsu he'd sealed with his technique, forcing him to mimic her movements and seal thirty two of his own tenketsu. She also used Chakra Scalpels to destroy the handful of markers he'd left on her for his technique, similarly causing him to cut himself with his own scalpels. Then, from underneath Alpha One, a large, black, writhing mass of insects emerged, attaching itself to him. Naruto charged forward to free his teammate, but was intercepted by a large stone-covered human wrecking ball. He was sent flying into the distant treeline, with the wrecking ball following closely behind him.

Charlie One watched him sail through the air as her teammate, Charlie Three, went after him. With Charlie Two's insects draining her opponent of chakra, she would be able to release him soon to deal with their final adversary. Fighting one-on-one against a ranged specialist who had no support would be a piece of cake for a taijutsu specialist such as herself, and she would be able to move on and help Charlie Three with his enemy quickly enough. All she had to do was keep her half-brother under her control until Charlie Two was done to stop him from warping out of his predicament, and the battle was won. This would prove to be easier said than done, however.

Alpha Two quickly threw a brace of blunted electrified kunai at her teammate, hoping to fry the kikaichū that were quickly draining her teammate. Unfortunately, Charlie One sidestepped leisurely, forcing Alpha One to move as well and allowing the kunai to sail past uselessly.

Charlie One's eyes widened, however, as she spotted the seal tags attached to the kunai. They burst into smoke as the kunai hit the ground, releasing their sealed cargo. Five wooden puppets emerged from the smokescreen and proceeded towards their respective targets, with two moving towards Alpha One and three bearing down on the one controlling his movements.

The three moving towards Charlie One launched a massive barrage of projectiles at and around her, forcing her to duck and weave to avoid being hit. Soon, however, she was forced to go airborne to avoid being hit by a particularly well placed kunai. She knew she couldn't allow herself to be hit, as the puppets' weapons were likely coated in a poison of some kind that would incapacitate her.

Her jump forced Alpha One to go airborne as well, allowing the other two puppets to act. They immediately launched kunai with ninja wire tied to them around him, physically restraining him. Because of the nature of the Shadow Possesion Jutsu, off of which the Shadow Chakra Possession Jutsu was based, this restraint carried over to Charlie One, who was no longer able to move because her possession target was bound. The three puppets attacking her capitalized on this, dashing forward to strike her while she was helpless.

Growling in frustration, Charlie One released her technique and intercepted the strikes, deflecting them and counterattacking with an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm to knock her opponents away. She saw a yellow flash within the mound of kikaiū, indicating that her victim had had enough chakra left to warp away from the bugs and hide so he could recuperate and rejoin the battle at a later time. Luckily, she no longer had any of his markers on her, but in any kind of Taijutsu engagement it would be easy for him to apply more.

That was for another time though; with their other objective complete, all five of the puppets now converged on her, intending to overwhelm her with superior numbers. The kikaichū attempted to swarm them from behind, but an offhanded gesture by Alpha Two caused a flamethrower to pop out of the back of one of her puppets, creating a fiery barrier between the bugs and the wooden constructs. She knew it wouldn't stop the infernal bugs for long, since they could burrow under the fire, but she had a plan.

The five puppets launched a barrage of kunai and senbon at their target. Charlie One performed a quick Substitution Jutsu to avoid the barrage, landing in the forest off to the side. At the same time, the bugs finished burrowing beneath the puppets and broke through the ground, engulfing all of them and beginning to eat away at their wooden chassis like termites.

Alpha Two quickly formed a handsign, discharging lightning chakra down the chakra strings connected to her puppets. The chakra spread throughout the conductive wood of the puppets and into the insects that were eating them, electrocuting and killing them. The large black mass that had engulfed her puppets dropped to the ground, with only a handful of survivors floating around the area.

Alpha Two frowned slightly. She really didn't like to do things like that; she knew Charlie Two cared about his insects, and slaughtering them like she just did left a bad taste in her mouth. She wanted to win, though, so she swallowed her hesitancy and prepared for a counterattack.

…

Naruto fell into a nearby clearing, crashing into a tree and landing hard on the ground. He felt like slapping himself for missing the incoming attack, but he had more important things to worry about at the moment. He was forced to dodge almost immediately as the human cannonball obliterated the tree behind him, getting to his feet to prepare a counterattack. As the massive stone-covered projectile turned around for another pass, the blond created a clone and began forming a Rasengan in his hand, allowing the clone to pump it full of wind chakra.

His opponent bore down on him as he prepared his attack, rolling directly towards him. As he finished forming his Wind Release: Rasengan, he brought his arm forward, thrusting out with his attack. He released his control over the destructive ball, pushing chakra into his hand to shield it against the violent discharge of wind blades from his attack. The blast expanded forward rapidly, leaving his adversary with no time to turn out of its destructive path.

Charlie Three focused his chakra at one point in his stone armor, causing a stone protuberance to extend from his protective covering. The oblong extension slammed into the ground, levering him over the intense wind attack. He didn't gain enough height, however; his underside still got clipped by the razor sharp wind blades. His armor blocked most of the damage, but he still received some cuts.

He came down hard on top of Naruto's position, forcing the blond to roll to the side to avoid the attack. In response, Naruto created a dozen clones that began performing hand signs simultaneously, preparing a crossfire of wind attacks. They fired as their target turned to try for another pass, launching a variety of blades and bullets in such a way that the unwieldy cannonball-shaped teen would be unable to dodge.

Charlie Three released his technique, shrinking down to a move mobile form. The stone armor shrunk with him, conforming to him as he changed shape and thickening as his surface area decreased. He dashed to the side to try to dodge, avoiding most of the attacks. He got clipped by a wind bullet, but his armor absorbed the impact with minimal damage.

Three of the clones formed Rasengans and charged forward, attempting to break through their opponent's armor. Charlie Three formed a single handsign, causing three stone spikes to break through the ground beneath the clones. One fell to the attack, but the other two successfully dodged and closed in.

The armored Akimichi ducked the first clone's attack, catching the wrist of the second clone as it struck and redirecting its attack safely into the ground. He dug his shoulder into the stomach of the first clone, throwing it over his shoulder and safely out of range. As it hit the ground, it lost control of the Rasengan in its hand; the compact ball of energy destabilized and exploded, blasting the area around it with chakra and dispelling the clone.

Charlie Three was about to follow up against the other clone, whose arm was still stuck in the ground, but suddenly felt the tugging sensation of a substitution jutsu. He tried to flex his chakra and resist, but the chakra of his opponent easily overwhelmed his own and forced the substitution.

He found himself standing in front of another Rasengan-wielding blond, whose attack was already being launched at him. With so little warning, Charlie Three had no chance to dodge as the attack struck him directly, shredding his stone armor and digging into his flesh underneath. Luckily, much of the damage was absorbed by the hardened stone, but the technique still shredded the armor and sent the Akimichi flying with considerable bodily injuries.

Naruto made more clones that proceeded to repeat the attack-and-substitute strategy multiple times, completely destroying their opponent's armor and severely injuring him. They made sure to avoid going overboard since it was a training exercise, but that didn't mean they pulled any punches as they knocked their adversary around. The boy was a physical powerhouse, capable of taking massive damage without being incapacitated, so it was going to take a lot of punishment to get him to stay down.

As the clones prepared the fourth iteration of the attack, Charlie Three performed a substitution of his own, disappearing into the surrounding forest. The clones formed a circle around the original, watching for an attack. Naruto himself formed a clone to begin preparing another Wind Release: Rasengan to counter his opponent's next attack.

Suddenly, all of the blonds sensed a massive chakra presence coming from somewhere in the woods. It began closing in on them rapidly, reaching the clearing in a matter of seconds. Debris that littered the ground from the battle began levitating from the massive power, but the clones couldn't see where it was coming from. By the time they realized it was below them, Charlie Three had already broken through the ground directly underneath Naruto, attacking with a massive uppercut that could easily decapitate anyone unfortunate enough to be struck. He was armored once again, but was now coated with thick blue chakra that coalesced into two wings on his back.

Naruto managed to jump in time to avoid the powerful strike, twisting down to plant his Wind Release: Rasengan into the torso of his opponent. It ground into the chakra-reinforced stone for several moments before detonating, knocking Charlie Three back into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. The blast also launched Naruto further skyward, giving him a chance to gain some distance between him and his supercharged foe.

As he came down near the edge of the clearing, Charlie Three emerged from a hole in the ground, unscathed. He charged Naruto, demonstrating an impressive speed that he hadn't possessed before. As the blond dodged his adversary's strike, another haymaker that would have atomized anything that was hit, he knew he had to bring out his trump card to have any chance of countering the physical powerhouse he was fighting.

With a growl, crimson chakra began pouring from the boy's tenketsu, engulfing him in a cloak of chakra similar to that of his opponent. Instead of two wings on his back, however, two tails formed behind him. He sped up noticeably, easily dodging his adversary's attacks. He ducked under a right hook and followed up with a solid punch to the kidney. Charlie Three flinched slightly, but immediately went for a leg sweep. Naruto launched himself off the ground with one leg, planting his other in his opponent's face; the recoil sent both of them in opposite directions. Charlie Three crashed to the ground heavily as the blond landed lightly a few feet away.

The overcharged Akimichi leapt to his feet and blurred through handsigns, slamming his hands down and pumping an obscene amount of chakra into the ground. Naruto lost his balance as the earth beneath him bucked and receded, leaving him suspended in mid air. Suddenly, the crater beneath him seemed to grow spikes, before rushing back up towards him, ready to perforate him.

The Jinchūriki formed five hand seals before launching a Wind Release: Great Breakthrough at the ground, launching himself upwards and out of the path of the spikes with its recoil. As soon as he hit the ground, however, he noticed that his opponent hadn't been idle; a flurry of small unpleasant-looking stone projectiles were bearing down on him. He created four clones, and together the five demonic teens repeated their previous technique, blowing the projectiles out of the way.

Charlie Three wasn't letting up yet though. Having created a shadow clone while Naruto was preoccupied, the Akimichi had distracted his targets with the stone projectiles to allow his clone to burrow underneath the five supercharged blonds. As he sped towards them from the front, the original used a Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld underneath them to ensnare them, leaving the original unable to dodge as a bone-crushing haymaker caught him across the face, breaking him free of the swamp and sending him careening into the forest.

Charlie Three caught up to his prey a considerable distance from the clearing, laying in a crater unmoving. His wounds were already healing, both from his impressive Uzumaki healing factor and from his demonic chakra cloak, which was still active but waning. Even though they were enemies at the moment, Charlie Three was glad Naruto would suffer no lasting injuries; he really didn't like hurting his allies, and he felt guilty every time he had to fight them in training. He got out a prewritten seal and slapped it on his opponent's forehead, intending to seal off his chakra temporarily to prevent him from returning to the fight without having to further injure him.

As he prepared to activate the seal, however, he heard a muffled shrieking sound coming from below him. He realized that the demonic chakra he sensed wasn't coming from just one source; there was a second, stronger source just below the one he thought was the original Naruto, as close to each other as possible to disguise their duality.

Before he could react, two more demonic clones broke through the ground and latched onto his legs, holding him in place as the original burst from the ground and slammed a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken into his chest. The technique cut into his supercharged armor for several moments before exploding, launching both opponents backwards in a burst of eviscerating wind. Both combatants' chakra cloaks provided protection against the brunt of the microscopic wind blades, but because Charlie Three's was weakened by the technique before being caught in the explosion, his failed to protect him fully.

He was sent crashing through several trees before coming to rest in a small crater, unconscious, with his chakra cloak deactivated. The residual chakra from his consumption of the first of his three pills managed to heal the most severe of his injuries, but he would still stay out of commission for the rest of the training exercise.

Naruto was also sent sailing backwards, landing hard on the ground and tumbling for several feet before coming to a rest. His demonic chakra cloak dissipated, and he sat up, exhausted from the hard fight. While his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was a fabulously destructive jutsu, it had some massive drawbacks, not least of which were that it consumed a metric ass-load of chakra and that he could only safely use it while he was protected by his demonic chakra cloak.

He got to his feet with a grunt and rubbed his sore jaw, which had been broken by his adversary's freakishly strong punch. His healing factor and demonic chakra cloak had repaired the damage already, but it still hurt like a bitch. While his chakra cloak made him highly resistant to damage, the physical powerhouse he'd been fighting was more than capable of laying down some whoop-ass that could hurt him even through it.

With his chakra cloak gone now, exhaustion slammed into him like a freight train. He popped a trio of soldier pills into his mouth, feeling a meager fraction of his energy return to drive away the urge to sleep for the rest of the day. He wouldn't be able to use his chakra cloak again for this training exercise, nor would he be using clones to throw around jutsu by the dozen, but he could still fight.

After a long slog to his opponent's resting place, which proved entirely pointless except to confirm that Charlie Three did not, in fact, have the objective, Naruto set out to find his teammates and regroup.

…

Meanwhile, Alpha Two had relocated to a new position, with her puppets in a defensive perimeter about 50 feet from her in a circle. She knew that an attack would be coming soon in retribution for her destruction of one of Charlie Two's hives, but she was ready and able to combat any tricks (or bugs) her opponent might pull out of his sleeves.

Suddenly, the tree she was crouched upon began trembling and shaking violently. Alarmed, Alpha Two was forced to leap for another tree as her previous perch collapsed. En route, she was intercepted by Charlie Three, who leapt up from the ground beneath her and slammed a fist into her stomach. She was knocked backwards into earth, hitting the ground hard but flipping to her feet immediately to meet her opponent. She flexed her fingers, ordering her puppets to return to her and provide support.

To her shock, the puppets didn't respond. While she had been distracted by her opponent, he had used his kikaichū to sever the chakra strings connecting her to her constructs. At this point, they were probably already mulch. Grimacing slightly at the loss of her primary method of combat, she drew a tantō and pushed lightning chakra into it, preparing to defend herself against her foe and his swarm.

The insects swarmed from all sides, giving her no route for escape. Focusing more chakra into her hands, Alpha Two ran through a set of hand signs before pirouetting with her tantō extended, releasing an electric wave in all directions around her. Some of the kikaichū were killed by the attack, but most were able to dart backwards fast enough to avoid receiving a fatal shock. They surged forward again, but met with the same technique, keeping them at bay.

Alpha Two attempted to perform a Substitution Jutsu to escape her unfortunate position, but felt her technique fail inexplicably. Charlie Two smirked slightly; he'd used his bugs to draw a fūinjutsu formula on the ground that acted as a nullification field, dissipating any foreign chakra that attempted to pass through it so long as it wasn't connected to a person. It would protect his kikaichū from further attacks, and it would prevent his quarry from escaping.

The combatants were locked in a stalemate. Alpha Two couldn't disengage, nor did she have any techniques that would be able to kill the kikaichū surrounding her without exhausting her remaining reserves. Charlie Two was unwilling to allow more of his insects to die, having suffered massive losses to his hives already.

The Aburame formed a series of hand seals and planted his hands on the ground, watching as his insects did the same. His chakra coursed through the malleable earth, allowing him to manipulate it and raise it up to begin clinging to his opponent's legs. His kikaichū embedded themselves in the soil and began siphoning the chakra from it, indirectly forcing Alpha Two's chakra to drain from her and into the soil as well. Alarmed, the puppetless puppet mistress attempted to shake the earth from her legs; however, she was unable to break the chakra-reinforced coating. Desperate, she pumped lightning chakra into her legs and discharged it into the earth, forcing the dirt to lose cohesion and fall to the ground. Before the technique could resume, she flipped into the air and planted her tantō in the ground, crouching upon it to keep some distance between her and her enemy's element. She withdrew a sextet of kunai, three for each hand, and prepared to defend herself from her new position, panting heavily from chakra loss.

The Aburame frowned. Saturating that much earth had taken a considerable amount of chakra, and he had hoped it would have been enough to incapacitate his opponent. She was almost certainly running on fumes at this point, however, having lost a significant amount of chakra to his technique. If he could engage her in close quarters combat and surreptitiously slip some kikaichū onto her, he would almost certainly be able to defeat her before her superior skill in bukijutsu and elemental advantage overwhelmed him.

Charlie Two formed a few hand signs and shoved his hands into the ground, withdrawing two spiked stone gauntlets that engulfed his hands and arms. He charged towards his adversary, immediately ducking under the first two kunai and using his gauntlet to deflect two more. He lunged, aiming for his opponent's torso with a straight punch. She caught it with her kunai, forming a crossguard to prevent his strike from slipping past her knives.

He was about to follow up with a heavy cross that would have provided a distraction for him to plant the first of his kikaichū on her when she kicked out and released her guard, dropping her kunai and forming a hand seal. The kick knocked him back into a cloud of smoke that had enveloped one of her thrown kunai; before he could react, he felt four mechanical arms latch onto him and begin to constrict.

Alpha Two sighed in relief. She had thrown her sealed emergency puppet attached to one of her kunai with the hope that her opponent would miss the small seal tag and continue his assault, which he did. Now she could finish the fight. She formed a single handsign and pushed the meager remains of her chakra into the chakra strings connected to her puppet, shocking her victim into unconsciousness.

The kikaichū immediately swarmed toward his body, reentering it and going to work repairing the damage he'd sustained in battle. Alpha Two didn't interfere; she knew they weren't going to attack now that their host was incapacitated, and she wasn't about to harm her friend's hives without cause.

Getting off of her tantō and returning it to its sheath, she prepared to go looking for her teammates. However, as she straightened upright, she was struck by a sudden bought of dizziness and exhaustion. Her lack of chakra caught up with her, and she collapsed, unconscious.

…

Alpha One had no trouble finding his way to his powerhouse of a teammate; even if he couldn't sense the insanely potent demonic chakra from a mile off, he would have heard that shrieking Rasenshuriken from Iwa. He slowly trudged in the direction of his stealth-challenged teammate, keeping his senses open for signs of Charlie Team.

He hoped he could reach his teammate before anyone found him; those damn kikaichū had absolutely drained him, and while he had taken some soldier pills to offset the chakra loss, he was still dangerously low. Luckily, practicing with his chakra intensive Hiraishin-Jūken hybrid style had expanded his reserves to impressive levels, allowing him to keep functioning when lesser ninja would be napping for a week with chakra exhaustion. Despite that, he'd probably be napping as well if it weren't for the four soldier pills he'd almost poisoned himself with.

Unfortunately, the taxing nature of the style also meant he had to keep every drop of chakra he could to maximize his combat effectiveness. He didn't even feel comfortable keeping his Byakugan active; the relatively small drain it had on his remaining reserves may end up being the difference between victory and defeat. Instead, he periodically activated them to check his immediate area for any allies or hostiles, before deactivating them and continuing onwards.

Before long, he sensed a familiar chakra signature nearby. A brief activation of his Byakugan confirmed that it was his blond teammate, coincidentally in the same torn up clearing in which the Jinchūriki had fought his opponent. Sighing in relief, he made his way over, catching the Jinchūriki's attention.

"Hey, you doing alright? Those kikaichū were all over you last time I saw you."

Alpha One waved him off. "I'm tired, but I can fight. The real question is, how are _you_ doing? The Rasenshuriken usually wipes you out after you use it."

Naruto smirked slightly. "Heh, do you really think _chakra exhaustion_ of all things can bring me down? No way. I may not be running full, but I can still kick some ass." Alpha One knew the blond was mostly blowing smoke, considering his exhausted countenance, but if a bit of self-deception was what his teammate needed to keep fighting, he wouldn't interfere.

"Did you manage to get the package?" Alpha One inquired.

"No, but I did take out their heavy hitter. One down, two to go, am I right? Anyway, any idea what happened to Alpha Two?"

"No, I decided to find you first to try to regroup and counterattack together. She's pretty much a one man army with those puppets though, so I think she'll be able to hold her own well enough."

The attention of both Alpha Team members was drawn suddenly to an odd shadow that had fallen over the clearing. In place of the previously open sky, thick clouds had just formed and begun pouring rain. Alpha One knew that their appearance was much too sudden for those clouds to be natural; a brief glance with his Byakugan confirmed that the rain was laced with chakra, indicating its formation was jutsu based. Considering that the technique was water-based, he concluded that Charlie One was nearby, a worrying prospect considering her familiarity with their shared taijutsu style.

As the raindrops fell through the leafy canopy upon the two ninja, they quickly moved to stand back to back, keeping their eyes open for attack. Someone was planning something with this rain, and they had to be ready to respond to it. Alpha One tried to activate his Byakugan to give a check of their surroundings, but was immediately bombarded with a flurry of bright chakra blots on his enhanced vision from the chakra-laced rainwater. Instead of wasting chakra trying to focus through the chakra haze, he deactivated his dōjutsu and settled for using his unenhanced vision to keep watch.

A few moments passed without incident. Both Alpha Team members kept their senses open, shifting their heads back and forth periodically to keep watch for any sign of enemy movement. Then, suddenly, Naruto spun and launched a kick into the side of his teammate full force, sending him skidding away. Alpha One hadn't been prepared for the strike at all, and had taken the brunt of it, forcing him to bend over and wheeze for a few moments in pain.

"What the f-" Alpha One was cut off as Naruto launched another strike, this time a punch at his ally's head. The Byakugan wielder used his superior speed to get behind his former ally, leveraging his arm behind him. "Hey! Snap out of it!"

Naruto ignored him, delivering an elbow strike to his teammate's torso to free himself. Alpha One grunted and jumped back, avoiding the blond's following roundhouse kick. He activated his Byakugan to examine his compromised teammate's chakra system. The chakra in the rain was thick, but he thought he could see a glimmer of foreign chakra in there...

The Hyūga was forced to twist to the side to avoid a spinning maelstrom of chakra in his friend-turned-foe's hand, using the blond's proximity to quickly deliver a few Jūken strikes to a few tenketsu, hoping the disruption of his chakra flow would be enough to dispel the genjutsu afflicting his ally.

To his dismay, however, it appeared that the chakra in the rainwater was repelling his Jūken strikes, acting as a shield to deflect the small spikes of chakra. Alpha One ducked under a followup attack and withdrew a kunai, slicing a small cut in his friend's leg to attempt to snap him out of the mental assault. His Byakugan caught the foreign chakra wavering and dissipating, but as soon as it was gone another burst of it entered through his tenketsu, courtesy of the saturated rainwater. Alpha One swore and leapt backwards, making space to give himself some time to plan.

He scanned his surroundings thoroughly, focusing through the chakra smokescreen as best he could. While the rain only contained chakra in the immediate area, there were auxiliary rainclouds for several hundred meters in every direction to which the chakra in the clouds overhead could move; additionally, their hidden opponent could likely duplicate the technique that formed the clouds in the first place in any area new clouds were needed.

He could escape the rain with relative ease using his Hiraishin, but trying to do that with a hostile passenger would be draining on his already low reserves. Abandoning or incapacitating his teammate was not an option; even disregarding the moral issues of abandoning or harming an ally and leaving them to the mercy of an enemy, Alpha One didn't have enough chakra to defeat their opponent unless she was weakened considerably.

He couldn't find the one responsible for the rain either, which was unsurprising considering that their opponent was skilled with genjutsu. Trying to spot the chakra pattern of a concealing genjutsu behind a chakra smokescreen was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except the hay looked like needles and the whole mass writhed around like a pile of worms.

Alpha One paused his train of thought as he warped to the Hiraishin seal on his ally's back, watching a tree get bisected by a wind attack as he knocked the blond to the ground and leapt backwards for more space.

His only option was to try to outlast his opponent. Not Naruto, obviously, since the boy could (and, as part of his training, had occasionally been required to) continue fighting for days on end without physically tiring. No, he planned to outlast his _true_ opponent, who was currently pumping a considerable volume of chakra into the rain falling all around them. While all of their group of prodigies had considerable chakra reserves, their opponent wouldn't be able to withstand such a heavy drain for any great length of time. All he had to do was dodge his ally's relatively slow attacks for a while.

Unfortunately, his opponent had other plans. As Alpha One ducked past another Rasengan, a chakra-infused shadow darted out from nearby underbrush, connecting to Naruto's shadow and winding its way up his legs, reaching his tenketsu and giving the owner of the shadow full control over the blond's chakra system. Despite being weakened by the diminished light, the shadow technique was still strong enough to influence an unresisting target.

As Alpha One stepped back from a follow up punch, the blond's hand suddenly shot forward and released a lightning fast Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, catching the Hyūga off guard and sending him flying into the forest. In the underbrush next to the clearing, Charlie One, who was still covered with the concealing genjutsu, performed the same movement and released an identical Vacuum Palm, which sped through to air to impact and already airborne Alpha One, slamming him into a tree. She darted forward, with Naruto mimicking her actions, and stood in a Jūken stance, close enough that her two opponents were within her field of divination.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palm Mimicry!"

Before he had a chance to recover from the massive impacts of the Vacuum Palms, Alpha One felt the telltale pain of his tenketsu closing. Somehow, Charlie One had figured out a way to force Naruto to hit him with the Hyūga signature technique. He quickly molded his chakra and warped to the Hiraishin seal on his ally's back, hoping to delay the next set of strikes long enough to regain his bearings and prepare a defense.

Nearby, Charlie One smirked. The flash of his technique had illuminated the weak shadowy connection she had to her target, breaking the technique. Naruto, who was still under the genjutsu, would now be free to attack again independently, and she would be able to capitalize on the abrupt surprise of this change in attack style. She molded her chakra and released another Vacuum Palm at her half-brother.

Simultaneously, Naruto had abruptly stopped his Jūken strikes and had formed a handful of handseals, exhaling forcefully at Alpha One. The wind attack was too wide to dodge, hitting the Hyūga straight on and knocking him directly into the incoming Vacuum Palm. The masked ninja lost his momentum abruptly, suffering violent whiplash and falling to the ground hard.

Breathing heavily, Charlie One approached the hostile Hyūga, who appeared to have been knocked out by the violent trauma of the colliding techniques, and his genjutsu-ensnared teammate. Keeping up the chakra in the rain, the genjutsu on Naruto, the concealing genjutsu, her Byakugan and the combat techniques had almost completely drained her Jōnin level reserves, despite being almost entirely fresh at the beginning of the engagement. Despite that, it seemed that her efforts had paid off; her plan had worked and she had won. Still it wouldn't matter how many enemies she'd defeated if she passed out and released Naruto from the genjutsu; she needed to keep it up long enough to knock her last opponent unconscious, and with how low her reserves were, she needed to do so immediately.

In her haste to deal with the final threat, she neglected to confirm that her half-brother was truly out for the count.

With a brief handsign and a tap to the forehead, the Jinchūriki succumbed to a sleep genjutsu and dropped like a bag of bricks. Sagging in relief, Charlie One leaned against a nearby tree and released the various techniques she'd been holding. Fading into visibility, she checked the pocket of her jacket to ensure the package was undamaged, before straightening up and preparing to retrieve her teammates to leave. A sudden burst of chakra behind her was all the warning she had before two chakra-charged fingers struck a bundle of nerves at the base of her spine, disrupting the flow of chakra to her brain and knocking her unconscious.

Alpha One lowered his hand, sinking to a knee and removing his mask to cough up a bit of phlegm and blood that had congealed in his throat. Being pinballed around by high-impact jutsu was _not_ his idea of a fun time. Luckily, he'd not been in much of a direct engagement, and as such hadn't been forced to use the Hiraishin as he normally was in a fight. His chakra levels were low, but not dangerously so, so he wouldn't be bedridden for a week with chakra exhaustion; though, as he coughed up more bloody phlegm, he decided he _might_ still end up hospitalized for awhile with a broken rib or three.

With a small injection of chakra, Alpha One broke the sleep genjutsu afflicting his blond teammate. As the Jinchūriki sat up and gained his bearings, the Hyūga gave him a smack to the back of his head, knocking him facedown in the dirt.

"Before you ask, that's for breaking my ribs with one of your Kami-damned wind techniques. Please practice dispelling genjutsu before the next time we're forced to team up."

The blond mumbled something crude into the grass before sitting up and spitting out a clod of dirt that had found its way into his mouth. He glanced over at their unconscious opponent and gestured towards her. "Have you gotten the package, or have you been too busy complaining?"

"I've been too busy waking your useless ass up from your beauty sleep."

"Hey! If I hadn't already broken your ribs I'd punch you for that!"

Alpha One smirked a bit. "Heh, I'd like to see you try. I was dancing circles around you when we were fighting, you just got a lucky shot in."

Naruto grumbled in annoyance before standing and plucking the small wrapped object from where it stuck out from their opponent's jacket. Sticking it into his own pocket, he turned around and offered a hand to help his teammate up. When both were on their feet, they returned to the campground to quickly recover their final teammate so they could escape with their package.

When they found her passed out next to her fried opponent, Naruto frowned. "Looks like this was a pretty close fight. I thought you said she would be fine on her own?"

Alpha One frowned at his friend's sorry state as well. "If I had tried to help, I would probably have been taken out pretty quickly. One mistake and I'd be swarmed by kikaichū and drained dry. I didn't want to leave her unprotected, but I had a better chance of helping by regrouping with you so we could fight together."

Naruto nodded, grabbing their third team member and carrying her bridal style as they set out for the edge of the training ground.

 **A/N: This chapter has been consternating for me to write. I originally planned to have all fifteen main characters (and holy** _ **shit**_ **is that a lot of characters; kinda didn't realize what I was getting into when I did that, but I'm not backing out now) in this chapter, but I slowly pared it back until it reached this point. If I had tried to fit** _ **everyone**_ **in, this chapter would have been a 15k+ word self-contained novel. You'll get a showcase of the other nine in the next two chapters.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this massive 7.5k word fight scene that I seem to have mislabeled 'chapter'. I'd like your opinion on the next chapter; I could do something similar to this one for the other six prodigies who are training, or I could come up with some other training exercise for them to do. I'm really quite flexible in my writing, and considering that my story doesn't have much of a following yet, I'm very likely to listen to your valuable opinions.**

 **Oh, by the way, I actually encourage y'all to flame the shit out of me. Seriously, not joking. Set fire to my review section and we can bask in its warmth together. Or, y'know, traditional follows/favorites/reviews work too, but I especially like flames, so if you have any inclination, go ahead and drop some for my humble story.**


End file.
